If the Agile Founding Fathers had written a Manifesto about US NASA Space Shuttle trips to the International Space Station, it might have read, in part, "we have come to value the safe delivery of astronauts, space station parts, and experimental moss, gerbils, and other stuff to the space station over creating a dignified-looking Saturn 5 rocket." http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/Endeavor%20Docking%20525.jpg As the years passed, if we had all found ourselves employed at NASA in the shuttle program rather than in the IT organizations in small businesses and big insurance companies, our artifacts, processes, people, and procedures might have played the following roles: How we think user stories fit into software development, as described by the ISS analogy: The role of "the shuttle" would have been played by our overall defined software development lifecycle (SDLC) -- the process supports delivery of the payload.
Non-zealot reflections on real life agile leadership, management and analysis practices.